Roethlisberger speaks on Haley hire, state of offense

[mesaSteeler]

Roethlisberger speaks on Haley hire, state of offense
Thursday, February 09, 2012
By Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Todd Haley has been hired, met with his new colleagues on Mike Tomlin's coaching staff, with members of the front office and finally with the media at noon today.

Another Steelers employee was looking forward this morning to his first meeting with the new offensive coordinator: Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

"I haven't talked to him," Roethlisberger said at the Steelers training facility where, 20 minutes later, Haley would be introduced at a press conference just down the hall as the team's new offensive coordinator.

"I've gotten a lot of calls and texts and emails from people around the league, both good and bad about him,'' Roethlisberger said during an interview with the Post-Gazette. "Everybody has an opinion, as we all know, and they're letting me know what their interaction with him was -- good, bad and indifferent. I've heard a lot of things and I'm looking forward to meeting him and forming my own opinion."

Roethlisberger admitted he was "shocked" when he learned Bruce Arians was not offered a contract renewal as offensive coordinator. He said coach Mike Tomlin has since kept him in the "loop" about his search for Arians' replacement, although he had no input into who that would be.

Now, the quarterback is anxious about what offense Haley might run -- whether he will chuck the Steelers offense that has evolved from Mike Mularkey to Ken Whisenhunt to Arians in favor of his own, whether he will maintain the Steelers offense or whether there will be some type of meshing of the two.

Haley was not definitive about his offensive plans during his press conference, just that he would "start with a clean slate.''

"It would probably be easy for him to do," Roethlisberger said about Haley possibly choosing to stick with his offense. "I don't know if it would be easy for us to learn it. We're so young on offense and the most talented room in this whole building is probably wide receiver, no disrespect to anyone else. And they're also really young."

"They're still the tip of the iceberg in this offense and they did as well as they did last year. And they're just getting to the point that 'OK, this makes sense to me.'

"That was my biggest talking point to Mike and those guys -- I would hate to just throw everything out and start over because I feel it would set us back two or three years because these guys are just starting to get it.

"I hope we don't have to start over and if we do, you know what, here we go. Let's do it. We'll do it. We're not going to complain about it. But I would hate to have to set certain guys back who are doing so well right now."
Ed Bouchette: ebouchette@post-gazette.com

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12040...#ixzz1lwU1n3I8

[madtowndrunkard]

Wow... sounds like our QB isn't all in w Haley. I think Ben needs to check him self. He obviously forgot who's team this is. What I don't understand is how Ben still thinks that Arians offense was on the verge of greatness. I think the expression "'he's too close to the trees to see the forest" applies here.

I seems Ben has an excuse for everything...and none of it's his fault. Why else would he be making the comments about the WR's finally getting the system...we were just about to be great BS. Then to say if Haley brings in his own system it's putting these young WR's back 2-3 years? What kind of BS is that? Is Ben's interest in winning? He must think we didn't win a SB because of the defense. He's showing ZERO accountability on his side of the ball..... otherwise he wouldn't be so anti Haley right now.

That statement is Ben trying to be "politically correct" and he came off as being a bi@# IMO. I'm shocked that he would make those comments publicly.

[TRH]

He's saying what i think just about any QB would say. No big deal. It looks like he's looking forward to working with Haley.
Don't read too much into it and super-over-analyze it.

[jiminpa]

Just goes to demonstrate what I have sensed for years. Ben didn't care that the offense didn't score as long as he got to have his fun and pad his meaningless stats columns.

[madtowndrunkard]

The correct answer for Ben should have been....

"What ever coach Haley wants to do to help us win...I'm all in 100%. Obviously our offense has struggled to show any consistency for several years now...and we took a step backwards in scoring.... 22nd in the league is not acceptable to me and obviously Mr. Rooney. So what ever Coach Haley wants to do..I'm behind him 100%."

Not this.. I've heard good and bad..I'll have to form my own opinion... I sure hope he doesn't try installing a new offense because it will put us back 3 years crock of BS.

[FanSince72]

I completely agree with Ben when he said this:

"It would probably be easy for him to do," Roethlisberger said about Haley possibly choosing to stick with his offense. "I don't know if it would be easy for us to learn it. We're so young on offense and the most talented room in this whole building is probably wide receiver, no disrespect to anyone else. And they're also really young."

"They're still the tip of the iceberg in this offense and they did as well as they did last year. And they're just getting to the point that 'OK, this makes sense to me.'

"That was my biggest talking point to Mike and those guys -- I would hate to just throw everything out and start over because I feel it would set us back two or three years because these guys are just starting to get it.

"I hope we don't have to start over and if we do, you know what, here we go. Let's do it. We'll do it. We're not going to complain about it. But I would hate to have to set certain guys back who are doing so well right now."

I've said many times that whatever it was that they have been working on was still a work in progress, was still evolving and to a large extent was being done on the fly. I believe that the offense really was getting close to something and the wideouts were still learning -- not just the "X's and O's" crap, but the more subtle things like reading Ben as well as each other and developing that sixth sense about each other and that just takes time.

I think that's what Ben's talking about and I think he's just concerned that if Haley comes in and wants to change everything that it will throw out all of that development and may very well set things back a lot.

I think that the most difficult thing to develop is chemistry and that chemistry is more important than just learning a playbook or a route. It's like a great band -- there are thousands of guys who can play an instrument but only when the right group of them come together do you get a great band. Ben sounds as if he saw that chemistry starting to come together and he's afraid that Haley might end up screwing it up.

I can't blame him for feeling that way and I certainly don't blame him for having reservations.

[madtowndrunkard]

Originally Posted by FanSince72

I completely agree with Ben when he said this:

"It would probably be easy for him to do," Roethlisberger said about Haley possibly choosing to stick with his offense. "I don't know if it would be easy for us to learn it. We're so young on offense and the most talented room in this whole building is probably wide receiver, no disrespect to anyone else. And they're also really young."

"They're still the tip of the iceberg in this offense and they did as well as they did last year. And they're just getting to the point that 'OK, this makes sense to me.'

"That was my biggest talking point to Mike and those guys -- I would hate to just throw everything out and start over because I feel it would set us back two or three years because these guys are just starting to get it.

"I hope we don't have to start over and if we do, you know what, here we go. Let's do it. We'll do it. We're not going to complain about it. But I would hate to have to set certain guys back who are doing so well right now."

I've said many times that whatever it was that they have been working on was still a work in progress, was still evolving and to a large extent was being done on the fly. I believe that the offense really was getting close to something and the wideouts were still learning -- not just the "X's and O's" crap, but the more subtle things like reading Ben as well as each other and developing that sixth sense about each other and that just takes time.

I think that's what Ben's talking about and I think he's just concerned that if Haley comes in and wants to change everything that it will throw out all of that development and may very well set things back a lot.

I think that the most difficult thing to develop is chemistry and that chemistry is more important than just learning a playbook or a route. It's like a great band -- there are thousands of guys who can play an instrument but only when the right group of them come together do you get a great band. Ben sounds as if he saw that chemistry starting to come together and he's afraid that Haley might end up screwing it up.

I can't blame him for feeling that way and I certainly don't blame him for having reservations.

I'd maybe agree with you if Haley was taking over a great offense. He's not. He's taking over great players who could never seem to get on the same page. This is the NFL. You don't get 3-4 years to learn your offense before you actually show consistency . Ben should have been professional and welcomed his new superior. I'm guessing Mr Rooney will be none to happy to read that comment from Ben.

[tony hipchest]

this is not a barber shop quartet. it is more like a symphony with 53 members.

in order for the offense to be "great" they need a good conductor.

as for the receivers and ben being on the same page, that comes with time spent together in practice.. its football, not a 4 year mastery degree with arians spoon feeding them info out of massive textbooks and dissertations.

as far as i can tell, the steelers offensive practices pretty much consisted of ben and arians playing "pull my finger".

[jiminpa]

Originally Posted by FanSince72

I completely agree with Ben when he said this:

"It would probably be easy for him to do," Roethlisberger said about Haley possibly choosing to stick with his offense. "I don't know if it would be easy for us to learn it. We're so young on offense and the most talented room in this whole building is probably wide receiver, no disrespect to anyone else. And they're also really young."

"They're still the tip of the iceberg in this offense and they did as well as they did last year. And they're just getting to the point that 'OK, this makes sense to me.'

"That was my biggest talking point to Mike and those guys -- I would hate to just throw everything out and start over because I feel it would set us back two or three years because these guys are just starting to get it.

"I hope we don't have to start over and if we do, you know what, here we go. Let's do it. We'll do it. We're not going to complain about it. But I would hate to have to set certain guys back who are doing so well right now."

I've said many times that whatever it was that they have been working on was still a work in progress, was still evolving and to a large extent was being done on the fly. I believe that the offense really was getting close to something and the wideouts were still learning -- not just the "X's and O's" crap, but the more subtle things like reading Ben as well as each other and developing that sixth sense about each other and that just takes time.

I think that's what Ben's talking about and I think he's just concerned that if Haley comes in and wants to change everything that it will throw out all of that development and may very well set things back a lot.

I think that the most difficult thing to develop is chemistry and that chemistry is more important than just learning a playbook or a route. It's like a great band -- there are thousands of guys who can play an instrument but only when the right group of them come together do you get a great band. Ben sounds as if he saw that chemistry starting to come together and he's afraid that Haley might end up screwing it up.

I can't blame him for feeling that way and I certainly don't blame him for having reservations.

All of that development toward 32nd scoring offense in the league. It really is a shame that Rooney had to step in and screw all of that up.

When I lived in Jacksonville I used to tell the locals, "when you're that bad for that long, you're not rebuilding, you're just that bad."

[tony hipchest]

Originally Posted by jiminpa

All of that development toward 32nd scoring offense in the league. It really is a shame that Rooney had to step in and screw all of that up.

In pro sports when you suck year after year, it's not rebuilding, it's just sucking.

hey! its taken alot of years to teach miller to whif on blocks and allow 40+ sacks on ben, and to run block on fewer rush attempts all while regressing as a pass catcher at the same time.

thats not easy to do. he's young and just about to "get it". i'd hate to see him start all over with 7 td's a year again.